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Fianna Fail TD Darragh O’Brien lambasted the Government for not just failing to address the nationwide housing crisis, but contributing to it by driving up property values.

He said: “This data has revealed the Government has spent just short of €1billion in taxpayers’ money to purchase 5,559 homes, pricing families trying to buy their own homes out of the market without adding to the national stock.

“Not only has the Fine Gael plan driven up house prices generally but in many instances it would have been significantly cheaper for the State to build new social homes.”

The figures highlight a massive overreliance on private housing and the Government’s reluctance to invest in large-scale building projects.

Deputy O’Brien said it is an extremely upsetting situation and can only be remedied with new efforts.

He added: “Affordable housing needs to be at the core of the forthcoming Budget and we will fight hard to force FG towards adopting a Comprehensive Affordable Housing Scheme.”